Crews clear downed trees across Sacramento as they brace for Wednesday's winter storm
SACRAMENTO – The powerful New Year's Eve storm caused widespread outages, massive flooding and downed trees across the Sacramento region.
There have been no days off so far in the new year for Rodney Morgan.
"We've been working nonstop since Sunday," said Morgan, owner of City of Trees Professional Tree Care. "I'm hoping that the first storm would have taken care of the weak trees."
His business has received back-to-back calls ever since Saturday's storm. The certified arborist explained there are some warning signs a tree may topple during a storm — one is to look to see if the ground is moving.
"You'll see cracks in the ground. It'll start heaving – looks like it's breathing," Morgan said. "Usually, the wind is coming from whatever direction. And you'll start the ground heaving on that side."
At that time, he said people should move away from the tree.
"It does not matter if it is an old or young tree," he says.
In Natomas, tree removers clear a tree from an apartment roof near Truxel Road and El Camino Avenue. Neighbors nearby say they lost power for a bit.
"It was scary, so we went to my auntie's house," Jason Hill said. "The streets light were off."
Throughout downtown Sacramento, downed trees were seen near the Capitol, businesses and cars. The city's customer service line was inundated with calls.
So which ones are the city handling first?
"Current priorities are responding to calls related to public safety and traffic safety concerns," said Gabby Miller, a city spokesperson for the Public Works Department.
Miller said crews began working ahead of the holiday weekend storm and throughout the event for tree trimming and storm drain clearing. While the department was ready, it was not prepared for the sheer volume of storm cleanup, she said.
Though, the department said it's prepared to deploy crews for the next winter storm. It is also asking people to keep storm drains and gutters clean.
Meanwhile, people are hoping Wednesday's storm is not a repeat of what we've seen already.
"All we can say is we're in God's hands," resident Rosa Davis said. "Hopefully, we don't have as much devastation."